Oliver brings in a repairman to assess cutting out drywall and removing mold.

“The furnace is going to have to come out. I can’t even turn the heat on,” Kayla tells Oliver. Kayla says she’s keeping it off because she worries mold will get sucked into the intake, and then blown out through the vents, sending dangerous spores throughout her apartment.

Kayla says this inspection is inadequate to address health issues.

“Are you certified in water damage? She asks the repairman. “Do you have a certification?”

Little do they know Kayla is an expert at restoration.

“I know what needs to be done. The carpet should have been torn out the first night. They should have had asbestos testing done. It’s state law,” says Kayla.

“She can demand that. She can demand that because it’s a health and code violation … Anything that has to do with the sewer is on the landlord to do,” says Grace Crewse who troubleshoots landlord/tenant issues five days a week for the Denver nonprofit.

If it’s a problem affecting habitability–or a person’s ability to live safely in the home, the landlord must fix the problem within a reasonable time–or let the tenant out of the lease.

If the landlord fails to fix the problem, your city or county code enforcement officer can heavily fine him/her.

Kayla says she feels hopeless.

No restoration. She can’t get out of her lease. And she can’t bring home her dog, Gus, whose sick with cancer.

“There are a lot of dangers to that breathing all that stuff, especially when they start cutting, and dust goes everywhere. They need to do things the right way and they don’t want to,” says Kayla.